Memories of the Last Spiral
by Lord of the Saiyans
Summary: The early Spiral War up until the conquest of Earth, told by a person who was there to see it happening. The Spiral Wars rage across the universe, and all Spiral species must band together, or be destroyed.


**AN : As you can expect, information on the original Spiral civilization is scarce to none, so I have had to make up a bit. I have tried to stay true to canon and would like you to point out if you see something that doesn't match up. **

_The Spiral War is something that we all have dreamed of at one point or another in our lives. And I'm not speaking of the second, with the heroic Dai-Gurren Brigade and the Anti-Spirals, but the original Spiral War, the one that holds our hearts and imaginations. The true war, the one that decided all that was to happen for so many years afterwards. Even the name, conjures up images of a brave and noble Spiral Warrior fighting against impossible odds for the glory of mankind. An image which, the movie industry has been quick to capitalise on with such films as _Spiral Nemesis _and _ Lord of the Core-Drills _ but much of what we know about these times are hearsay and conjecture based on the few known facts about the one Spiral Warrior we have information on -- the former Lord Genome, who died many hundreds of years ago, just before the second Spiral War. It is no exaggeration to say that 99% of all we know about the Spiral Race -- our predecessors, with whom we are only now just catching up -- is lies and mistakes, with the truth forever obscured by the mists of time. _

_Or at least, until now. Upon the finding of this marvellous discovery, many people looked keenly forward to what we may uncover. Secret technologies, they no doubt hoped to find, perhaps even the processes by which a new ''Lagann'' type mech could be created, But they were disappointed, for within that small crater, amidst the fallen forms of ancient, rusting ganmen and within the broken body of the Spiral-class mecha that had bested them, they found nothing but an ageing skeleton, decayed and rotten. And, one other thing... I thing most rare and wonderful, a once in a lifetime opportunity that we never thought to find. Clutched in the left hand of the corpse -- the right one still gripping the broken Core-Drill -- there was a book. Leather bound, it was... well it appeared to be a sort of journal chronicling the life and times of the Spiral Warrior. What it contained was amazing... The man's experienced ranged impossibly from the Earth That War Before, to the fall of the warrior who betrayed Earth to the Anti-Spirals to what happened afterwards, the organised resistance to the fallen warrior, Lord Genome. It finishes when the Spiral in question dies, and what this journal is more than anything else is a window.... a window into the world that was before, into what humanity once had been._

_I cannot transcribe the entire book for my readers, but I can pick out the chapters of interest. I have made several notations which you will find helpful, as well as various other pieces of information. I have also taken the liberty of naming the chapters, in the original they were little more than new pages without a name. _

_So without farther waiting, here is what you have come to see, the life... and death of the last Spiral Warrior._

**Preface: Reflection Upon the Past **

The fire is bloody cold here, and my wounds ache terribly. I should not have gotten into that fight, I know this... I should not have become involved.. its a rule I made, soon after the fall of Earth. The battle is lost, I must not get involved. Damn me, but what else could I have done? Those new creatures, twisted mixes of genetics as Lord Genome lives up to his name, what did he call them? ''Beastmen'' and cheap rip-offs of true mech like Grednon. But they were terrorizing those people... The few remaining people brave enough to live on the surface of their own planet. The few who in another age, might have become like us -- I say ''us'', but of course, there is no longer an ''us'' there is only me.

I am the last Spiral Warrior... For all I know, the last in the universe... Damn me, but I feel so old. I'm not old, you understand, I was born no five hundred years ago, and to a Spiral of my calibre, age is largely a matter of choice. But I _feel it _and that's where it counts. Don't think I've not felt it sneaking up on me. A shadow in the night, a shiver in the soul, an unmistakable premonition. I'm cold now... Cold inside and out. The fire that kept me burning, that powered my ascension to Spiral Warrior is dying in the winter brought about by the victory of the Anti-Spirals. Do you know what it feels like, to have so much power... so much potential and feel it slipping from your grasp? But I digress, in another few hours, this wont matter anyway.

I'm no fool, I represent the last bastion of the Spiral Race on Earth, so long as I exist, I am a threat to the newly appointed Lord Genome. Damn his traitorous name. I know what that means, enemies are coming, hundreds probably. I don't know how long I can fight on for, its become a burden to me, day after day, weak after week of watching helplessly as mankind fades from the surface of the world. As they forget all that they were! All that they could be...

I am the last connection with mankind's past and soon, I shall be no more. It is hard to put into words how that makes me feel. I cannot help but wonder, in my last hours, why did he do it? Why did Lord Genome, one of the most respected of the Spiral Warriors, turn upon his own and betray us so readily? I want to hate him, I want to despise his very being but I'm just too tired... too tired, and too cold.

I could run now, I could run and I could maybe even live but what then? A lifetime of running, of fearing discovery and hiding below the ground like the rest of the vermin? No! I will not run... I am a Spiral Warrior -- the last of the Spiral Warriors -- I will face my death with courage and honour and just for the last few minutes... I think I shall face it with hot-bloodedness. Don't get me wrong, I'll certainly die in the coming fight, but I wont go quietly into the night.

So why then, am I writing this? Hope. Hope that one day, Lord Genome will be toppled, that the Anti-Spirals defeated and that this book will be found. I am the last link with the past... this book is my legacy, my one chance. I will die this day, but... but maybe my memory will not.

That is my hope, at least. Perhaps it is to assuage my feelings of guilt, we all saw Lord Genome on a daily basis, why none of us spotted it... Does all the death he has caused weigh me down as much as he?

So I write. I write for the future of mankind... I hope against hope that one day, the sun will shine again, the fire will be burn brightly once more... I hope to all the Gods of the universe, if there are such things, that the Spiral Race has not seen its final hours.

But enough of this chatter, I shall explain how and why I became what I am today.

I was born in the year 2100, humanity was in a much changed state from what they are now. The great spiral towers of the Sanctity Cities were not but a distant prospect in the far flung future. Earth was divided into a hundred petty countries watched over by larger ones. For obvious reasons, I cannot recall much from this time in our history, and truth be told, who would want to? It is easily one of the darker paths we trod... We were not united as we are -- no I suppose we are no longer united now. Not since Genome arrived. But that is a tale for another day. Back then you see, mankind was split into a thousand squabbling groups. Each government spied on the others and the only thing that kept us back from war, was the knowledge that it would be a MAD scenario.

From what remains of the history books of that era, we had just embarked upon the conquest of space, with the construction of a nominal faster than light drive. Of course, you see, in those days, of all the various countries and nations, two in particular was strong, healthy and wealthy.

These two were rivals of old, though their names are now lost to us, like so much of what once was. But it was they, if anyone, who bear the brunt of the blame for attracting the attention of the Anti-Spirals.

I remember the day, though I was only a few months old when it happened, I remember it as... as a feeling, a _sense _of loss and despair, a tugging at the heart experienced by all Spirals in the presence of the Anti-Spirals. It must have been so traumatic for me to remember, but I do...

The Anti-Spirals appeared in orbit and rained death down upon the largely defenceless Earth, billions of people died in a few minutes.

When they left us, our world had changed... shattered... only a few of us were left alive all over the world. In a way, it was a rebirth for the human race, because we were united at last. United, with our backs against the wall, there wasn't enough of us left for countries, for nations or mighty civilizations. Those who tried to pretend otherwise... well they didn't last very long.

Then we found them... They were the Spiral mech, small things, ''Lagann'' I heard them referred to as in later years due to their appearance*. It was never really discovered how so many ended up on Earth. Later, we found out that the Laganns had fought a pitched battle above our world, but the early Spirals had taken heavy losses and been forced to retreat. It is therefore logical to assume that the Laganns that were damaged were forced down to the planet, though what happened to their pilots is a mystery.

After the battle of Earth, we were contacted by a Spiral Knight called Toru. I was only five at the time, but I remember him clearly. I remember because, well he exuded an aura of power, of supreme confidence and righteousness in a way none of our own leaders could ever manage. Now I know it was only his mastery of Spiral Energy that we instinctively felt, but back then, it must have seemed he was an avenging God, come to help us right the wrongs done against us. He offered us membership in a universal alliance of Spiral races all sworn to defeat the ones that had attacked us, the Anti-Spirals. In another time, we might have refused, might have tried to do it alone or just sat on the sidelines, but now we were a shattered people, wounded, braying for vengeance.

We accepted, and in doing so cast our lot with the Spirals for good or ill. Before we had been but a small annoyance to the Anti-Spirals, but now, now we were so much more. We were a threat, something that had the possibility to grow and challenge them in the future. More than that, however, we were a target.

I was ten when the first of the new cities were completed, we called it 'Terra'' which had been in ancient name for Earth. Terra, the capital of Earth. Its like was unseen by any human, the buildings themselves towered and spiralled, giving off an emerald lustre and the place was so full of Spiral Energy that any human, no matter how hot-blooded or otherwise, would always be in perfect health. No matter the injuries. Its is but a ruined crater now, of course, Lord Genome would never allow it to stand after his occupation ,it was a symbol of the Spiral's ability to endure, and as long as it stood, we could rally around it. I was there when it died. I fought and bled to give them the time to evacuate, I saw the emerald beam of power lance into the city centre, saw it explode like... like a ghastly replay of what the Anti-Spirals had done to the last city we built there. I still wake up from nightmares about that city. You would too, if you had been there. But I am getting far ahead of myself.

I was eleven when the first Spiral Academy came to Earth, it was built in Terra and there young Spirals showing promise were gathered from the four corners of the world. Soon, they would become the first generation of human Spiral Warriors. Needless to say, I was one of the first.

For six years we lived there, learning, training, growing. I have often heard it said that you need no education to be a Spiral and this is true. Mastery of Spiral Energy is hard-coded into us, and we need no one's help to shape it, but there, the Spiral Knights taught us all we needed to know of the war and what we were expected to do. A Spiral Warrior must be more than just a powerhouse of energy, he must know his enemies. We learned tactics, we learned strategy, we learned how to properly care for the Ganmen** under our control and the Lagann type in particular was a much sought-after model.

By the time I graduated to the rank of Spiral Warrior***, I was seventeen and ready to take on the world. I was hot-blooded, young, powerful, and even had my own Ganmen, not a Lagann type, but a fairly powerful Gimmin verity I had named Grednon, a word taken from one of our instructors meaning ''Shield'' or often, ''Protector/Defender''.

I'll never forget my first mission, it was to be an easy one. To get the new recruits and ease them into the war. An experienced Spiral Knight would be leading a squad of fresh recruits in a scouting mission. Said squad was made up of four of us, myself, my best friend, a man called Jordun, a young woman who's name escapes me at the minute and yes, one Lord Genome****

A very interesting factoid is that the ''Lagann'' class mechs are still known by this name today -- the current active generation, consisting of the one formerly piloted by Simon the Digger, was named by Simon's mentor, a man we know very little about other than he founded the Dai-Gurren Brigade and helped to mould Simon into the man he became.

** The word Ganmen is another one still in use today, albeit we use it to speak of the units used by Lord Genome's beastmen, whereas the author is clearly speaking of the models that preceded them. Note how he refers to the Lagann type as a Ganmen, were to most scholars, the Lagann type is generally agreed not to form a part of the Ganmen family, but to have more in common with the Grapearl line.

*** Though this is all just speculation, from what we have learned of the Spiral rank systems, there were three widely held positions. The first, Spiral Warrior, was mostly made up of powerful young men who fought with their heart more than their head, and could be relied upon for virtually limitless sources of Spiral Energy. Most trainees seemed to graduate to this class before moving on. Spiral Knights were older Spirals who had more control over their abilities and had proved themselves in many battles, they were the trusted aids and often bodyguards of planetary governors and would be at the forefront of any conflict. Lord Genome held this rank when he betrayed the Spirals. The last rank we know least about, Spiral Lord seems to indicate a power over the lesser classes of Spiral, but knowing the hot-bloodedness of the Spiral race in general, it is not a far-fetched conclusion that matters of rank were normally regarded as mere technicalities. Certainly, we have no written reports (Save the ones in this book) On how a Spiral Lord would work, or what they did. The best assumption seems to be that they led the armies as generals.

**** At this point in time, Lord Genome held the rank of Spiral Warrior, not Lord or Knight. As best as we can find, it seems that he always went by the name of Lord Genome, of course that has led to a certain amount of controversy over whether the correct spelling of the name is Lord Genome, or Lordgenome, since it is possible that it actually was his name. In this instance, I have stuck to Lord Genome in my transcription, but be aware that it is very possible I am wrong.


End file.
